Nouman Raja Police Officer

Nouman Raja Police Officer, Former officer Nouman Raja arrested on manslaughter charge
Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg on Wednesday announced the arrest of Nouman Raja in the Corey Jones shooting case.

Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg on Wednesday announced the arrest of Nouman Raja in the Corey Jones shooting case.

Calling for help didn’t save stranded motorist Corey Jones from the bullets later fired by a plainclothes police officer who stopped to investigate the parked SUV.

But now the recording of Jones’ call to roadside assistance — and the sounds of the shooting that it captured — could help convict former Palm Beach Gardens police officer Nouman Raja for what a grand jury Wednesday determined was an “unjustified” shooting.

Raja was arrested Wednesday on charges of manslaughter and attempted murder.

The cellphone call recording reveals that Raja — who wasn’t wearing a uniform or a badge — didn’t identify himself as a police officer when on Oct. 18 he approached Jones’ vehicle along I-95 and soon after opened fire, according to the State Attorney’s Office findings released Wednesday.

The recording also shows that Raja fired three shots, waited 10 seconds, and then fired three more times, with at least one of those shots fired as Jones ran away, according to the State Attorney’s Office report.

Jones’ death drew a swift public outcry, sparking rallies and protests that at times drew hundreds of demonstrators. The killing happened during a national uproar over use of force by police, from Ferguson, Mo., to Baltimore, involving young black men.

Attorneys for Jones’ family maintained that Jones likely didn’t know that Raja was a police officer. And in a report released Wednesday, prosecutors echoed how Raja’s lack of police identification was “grossly negligent.”

“Raja chose to approach Corey Jones’ vehicle in a tactically unsound, unsafe and grossly negligent manner,” according to the prosecutors’ report. “Raja was driving an unmarked white cargo van, which no reasonable person would assume was a police vehicle. … A reasonable person can only assume the thoughts and concerns Corey Jones was experiencing as he saw the van approaching him at that hour of the morning.”